String Quartet Con Passione MAKE SURE YOU TRIPLE READ THIER UNETHICAL CONTRACT! Saint Paul Minnesota
I have been planning my wedding, and needed to find a musical quartet for my ceremony. My mother had found this quartet on a minnesota wedding webpage, and I replied to a woman named Krista Broadway Swider. I signed the contract not triple reading the bottom portion that states that your $425 is permanent, no refunds no matter WHAT! My grandfather less than a month later got diagnosed with cancer along with other family emergencies and so we decided to postpone the wedding. NO MONEY BACK!
We are out $425 for booking musician's that did not even practice special sheet music chosen for the wedding. If only everyone can get paid for sitting on a phone making appointments for helpless brides sitting on a teeter-toter hoping that nothing goes wrong in a year. This situation is unfortunate for me and my fiance, and I learned a lesson. I just don't feel it's right that musicians or anyone, get paid for a one month appointment.
Lauren
Savage, Minnesota
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Krista
Saint Paul,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
String Quartet con Passione comes to its defense
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, May 18, 2008
In reply to Lauren's report:
Yes, we are a String Quartet. Yes, we have a deposit that usually requires slightly over 50% of the total amount due. Yes, that deposit is non-refundable in all circumstances. Yes, we charge a cancellation fee if the wedding is cancelled.
We keep the original booking fee and charge a cancellation fee because 1) The quartet members have to get paid whether or not an event is cancelled. 2) Once we have booked and held a date, there is very little chance of our being able to rebook that date, (because we are usually booked about a year in advance). 3) After the deposit is distributed, each quartet member comes away with only a portion of what they might have made had they played the gig. As far as we know and understand, many fellow string groups in the area also abide by a "non-refundable deposit" policy.
We have the original contract which Lauren signed on September 30, 2007. The contract has eight paragraphs and refers to the deposit, in line two of the third paragraph, as being non-refundable. The non-refundable deposit is reiterated in the following paragraph (the fourth), where the cancellation policy is clearly stated.
The font size on the body of the contract is exactly the same throughout. We don't "sneak" the information about the nonrefundable deposit in at the "bottom portion" of the contract (as Lauren said). It is (again) in the third and fourth paragraphs, out of eight. We are certainly not attempting to make unfair profit off of anyone.
In our hard copy cover letter which we mail to clients along with the hard copy contracts (one for us, one for them), we make a point of saying, "We urge you to read over the contract carefully." We have nothing to hide.
If it becomes obvious or even apparent to anyone that we are dishonoring a federal, state, or local law or statute by requiring an unconditional non-refundable deposit, please share with us, and we will happily amend that aspect of our contract.
In conclusion, it is our belief that Lauren has no legal grounds for her case against us, and in her fervor, is therefore attempting to slander our reputation.
Krista Broadway Swider